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Toldjah turns the big 4-OH!

40 years ago today, a glamorous blogging star was born ….

Baby ST

On the back of the picture, mom wrote “approx 6 mos. old’ – which tells me she didn’t write it shortly after the pic was taken, because she’d have known for sure. I think I may be a little older in the pic, but I get in trouble when I second guess my mother, so I probably should just accept what she wrote at face value. Heh.

It’s been a wild, mostly happy – if sometimes bumpy – ride. Most people lie when they’re asked whether or not there is anything they’ve done in their lives that they’d like to go back and change. They usually answer “absolutely not.” I’m not gonna lie. There are some things I’d most definitely like to change – decisions I’ve made, things I’ve said, mistakenly trusting some people and mistakenly not trusting others, opportunities missed, etc. Fortunately, the things I’d like to change but can’t I can live with. You learn from your mistakes, you mature, grow stronger and wiser, and move forward with your life. I’ve faced my share of challenges in my life like most people, but I’m at a comfortable place right now, and that comes from feeling secure in who I am and where I’m going – a mindset that has, in part, been fostered for 4 decades by a loving family and good friends.

For the last few weeks, my older sisters have jokingly stated that they can’t believe their “baby sister” will be turning 40. A few friends have joked with me in the last week that I am “finally catching up” to them in age, as most are already in their 40s. I certainly don’t feel my age most days, thankfully — and hopefully don’t look it either! Ah, yes. The looks thing. What we women worry the most about as we get older. When will the wrinkles and gray hair start?

When I was a teenager, I used to get told all the time that I looked older than my age, mostly by older guys who were noticing my, um, advanced “development” (I realized this later in life, but did not at the time). As a young woman struggling to find her identity, I loved it because, like most teenagers, I wanted to give off the sense that I was “mature” – even though I most certainly was not. Nowadays, I get told I look younger than my age, for which I am very much grateful. If it’s true, I have to give credit to the folks at Oil of Olay and my mother, who gave me the one beauty tip EVERY gal should follow from the moment she first starts wearing cosmetics: Wear a good moisturizer underneath your make-up!

I’ve never been shy about telling people my age, but admit to saying in the last few years that I was a “thirty-something” rather than saying 37, 38, 39. People call me “ma’am” more often than they used to, which is obviously an indicator that I don’t look like I’m in my 20s anymore. I find it perplexing that I, oddly enough, get more attention from college-aged guys now than I did when I was IN college. Must be the older woman/younger man temptation young guys deal with. I usually just smile and move on. But the flattery is nice all the same.

At Facebook, I’ve got an album full of what I call “Toldjah Memories” and it contains many pictures of the adventures and fun times I’ve had in my life, primarily up until my mid to late 20s. You don’t have to be a Facebook user to be able to view it. Do me a favor, though, ok? Don’t laugh at the hair.

Fast forward a little less than 40 years ago from the baby pic and you’ll get this:

Sistah

Taken in mid October, a couple hours after my hairdresser had performed an absolute miracle.

More recent? This is the best I can do. From late December this year after a Duke win:

Sistah, leaving the light on for all on-court victims of the Duke basketball team. ; )

Yeah – me loves me some Duke basketball.

It’s funny. For the first few years I had this blog, I always posted a profile shot. Then I pulled it for a variety of reasons, mainly because I didn’t appreciate, er, “creative” edits done on it by some of the more extreme elements of the left (use your imagination). Last summer, I decided I no longer cared what they did. Not only that, but I was also desirous to have people stop emailing me to ask me if I was black. LOL. It didn’t occur to me that newer readers did not know what I looked like, or if I was even a “real person.” Around that same time, at her request I sent off a picture to Melissa Clouthier for use in the “panelists” section of the “20 Hottest Conservative Men of 2010″ list. The funniest comment I heard after that list was posted was from someone on Twitter, which went something like “the most shocking thing about that list was learning that Sister Toldjah was white.” LOL. So now, if you didn’t know – you know. And no, I didn’t pull a Michael Jackson, as the baby pic proves.

On tap for the morning and afternoon: Girls day out with my sisters and mom. Later tonight, however, is a mystery. Strangely, no one will tell me what’s going on …

Anyway, as I wrote on Twitter yesterday, I’m happy and thankful that the Lord has allowed me to be around for this long. I hope he grants me many, many more years – if for no other reason than to continue to irritate the you-know-what out of liberals for a whole lot longer. Here’s to decades more of me doing that – and to my awesome readers sticking around for the ride.

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21 thoughts on “Toldjah turns the big 4-OH!”

Ah, yes. The looks thing. What we women worry the most about as we get older. When will the wrinkles and gray hair start?

My darling bride (of only 51 years, one month and six days; I robbed the cradle!) has kept her greying hair, and it’s coming in almost as though it was put there by a beautician, in a few interesting streaks. And you can look at Jamie Lee Curtis; leaving her hair grey didn’t hurt at all!

As to the question about going back and repairing bad decisions or actions, my answer is always “I wouldn’t because there’s no way to tell how things would turn out. Better, worse, maybe the same. So I’ll stick with what I have and try to do better in the future.”

Yes, there are lots of things I would have done differently today, which is why, if they arise today, I do them differently. The past is prologue, as some guy once said.

Happy Birthday ST!!! As we go through life, we ALWAYS can look back and think “If I knew then what I know now…” This journey is one of constant continuing education; and we are not ever looking forward to the last semester.